Rugby Utah, the state’s officially recognized Geographic Rugby Organization announced today that Dean L. Howes, the former chief executive officer of Real Salt Lake, has joined Rugby Utah’s executive leadership team. Howes will serve as a senior strategic advisor tasked with helping build the commercial and investment strategies that will support Rugby Utah’s long-term vision of creating the definitive development pathway from youth to professional league play in Utah and nationally.

Howes brings to Rugby Utah the management expertise he has gained over a highly successful career that most recently included the creation and development of Real Salt Lake in 2004 and overseeing the construction of the 20,000-seat Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. Howes also played an integral role in making Real Salt Lake the first U.S. professional sports team to sell the naming rights to the front of the team’s jerseys. An industry-defining move that sparked a trend throughout the entire MLS, in which now all teams have followed suit with front-jersey sponsors.

“We are thrilled to have Dean join our organization at a pivotal moment for us as we are poised to make some significant announcements relative to our development pathway and team structure,” said Rugby Utah chief executive officer Ken Rivera. “Dean’s passion and vision for the future of Rugby in America, and even more importantly, his tenured experience in building the capital structures and key strategic relationships with industry and civic leaders will be instrumental to our sustained revenue growth.”

Howes echoed Rivera’s excitement to help America’s fastest-growing game continue its pattern of growth.

“Ken and his partners in the Rugby Utah front office have done a great job unifying the community, keeping their promises and fielding a great Senior Men’s Division team as evidenced by their recent national title win.” Howes added, “I’m looking forward to lending my full support to help steer Rugby Utah toward a bright future at the regional, national and international level.

Howes is a former partner in SCP Worldwide, a New York City-based sports, entertainment, and media company founded in 2002. In addition to his oversight of Real Salt Lake and Rio Tinto Stadium, Howes was also involved in other SCP business interests including their ownership of National Hockey League’s (NHL) St. Louis Blues, the historic Peabody Opera House at the Henry Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis and the prominent Broadway production company Running Subway.

Howes began his career with Bristol-Myers Squibb spending 19 years in senior, executive positions in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In 1997, he became the Chief Executive Officer Professional Team Physicians, a company that aggregated the head team physicians across every major professional sport including in the NBA, MLB, NFL, MLS, and NHL.

During his thirty-seven years of marketing, sales, and business development experience, Howes has earned numerous professional awards for his outstanding achievement and business accomplishments.

From July 2010 to July 2013, Howes served as President in the Arizona Tempe Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where he and wife were responsible for over 200 full-time missionaries across central Arizona.

About Rugby Utah

Rugby Utah Ventures, LLC (RU) is the official Recognized Geographic Rugby Organization for USA Rugby and is focused on aggregating the strengths of rugby in the state of Utah, from the youth to the elite levels. The goal of RU is to unify rugby within the state through High Performance programs like the Olympic Development Academy and Community programs like the Rugby Business Network, Touch Rugby League and A 2nd Try Foundation. With these programs already producing positive results on and off the pitch the “United State of Rugby” looks to develop the most elite rugby players, coaches and referees and to develop the economic engines necessary to build and strengthen America’s rugby culture. For more information, visit www.rugbyutah.com #UnitedStateofRugby